Phytochemical Compounds in Muscadines

What is a phytochemical?
A phytochemical is a healthful chemical produced by plants. Many pharmaceutical companies use these naturally occurring compounds in combination with other elements and/or man-made chemicals and mixtures to create medicines. 

Following are some of the phytochemicals found in Muscadines:

Ellagic Acid
A natural pesticide in many fruit plants, such as strawberries and raspberries, this phytochemical fights cancer in humans. Ellagic acid has antioxidant, anti-mutagen and anti-cancer properties.

Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a phenolic compound. Phenolics are produced by plants and used for defensive purposes. Resveratrol is a substance produced by several plants that has been studied for its health benefits. High concentrations of Resveratrol are found in our grapes. It first came to the attention of the scientific community as the possible explanation for the “French Paradox” – the relatively low incidences of heart disease despite a high dietary intake of saturated fats in a study conducted in Southern France. It is just ONE compound in grapes that happens to be receiving attention of late. Tests have shown that Muscadines contain the highest levels of naturally occurring resveratrol in nature.

Resveratrol is an antioxidant although its antioxidant properties are slightly weaker that those of quercetin and epicatechin. Studies have shown that resveratrol has anticancer properties, lowers cholesterol, may be beneficial for diabetes, protects the heart, increases life span, improves memory, reduce and even reverse damages caused by chemicals and science is further supporting its antitoxic effects.

Chlorogenic Acid
Digested regularly, chlorogenic acids help the flow of bile and reduce the adverse effects of bile stagnation. Chlorogenic acids are found in all higher plants and are understood to have a role in the plant's response to stress, particularly to damage such as breaking of leaves and flowers or nicking the skin of fruits. The quantities present in most plants are miniscule, and thus they do not play an important part in human diet or herbal medicines. However, a few plants accumulate chlorogenic acids in quantities sufficient to have a physiological effect. Muscadines have a sufficient amount of chlorogenic acids which are associated with lowering the risk of a variety of liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, as well as having a positive influence on liver and gallbladder health.

Cinnamic Acid
Cinnamic acid is a compound that is naturally occurring in Muscadines and often manufactured by man to help in the digestion and breakdown of other chemicals. It is often used, in man-made form or natural form, in anti-inflammatory and pain killing medications.  It is also used in perfumes and scented man-made products.

Epicatechin
Epicatechin, a type of flavonoid, is thought to elevating levels of nitric oxide in the blood, which helps relax the blood vessels and improves blood flow. And its antioxidant properties could explain how it might stop cancers. At the moment, the science does not support epicatechin having an essential role, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest it could have a protective effect in the body.  Epicatechin appears to lower the risk of four common killer diseases, work suggests. Among societies and people who have a steady intake of epicatechin in their diet, there is a lower rate of stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Gallic Acid
Gallic acid has anti-fungal and anti-viral properties and acts as an antioxidant, helping to protect our cells against oxidative damage.  It has been shown to attack cancer cells, without harming healthy cells. Pharmaceutical companies often use gallic acid to help treat or prevent diabetes and some cancers.  It is also used in topical ointments to treat psoriasis and swelling.

Geraniol
Geraniol is a naturally occurring antioxidant and is said to assist in the prevention of cancers. It occurs in a natural form in Muscadines, but is often man-made or mixed with other elements in perfumery or to assist in improving tastes and/or flavors.

Courmaric
Courmaric has been reported to reduce the levels of enzymes that form triglycerides (which are the fatty materials that increase heart disease risk).

Kaempferol
Keampferol is a strong antioxidant and helps to prevent oxidative damage of our cells, lipids and DNA. Studies have confirmed that keampferol acts as a chemopreventative agent and, therefore, inhibits the development of cancer cells. Studies have also shown kaempferol to assist in the protection against the onset of heart disease. Researchers have found kaempferol to have specific cardiovascular benefits.

Myricetin
Myricetin has been found to modify cholesterol levels, assist in the treatment and prevention of diabetes, and even helps inhibit leukemia cells and reduces other cancer risks. Myricetin may also inhibit beta-amyloid fibril formation, a key issue in Alzheimer's disease. Flavonoids, including myrecetin, have antibacterial and antiviral activity.

Quercetin
Quercetin is a powerful antioxidant. It is also a natural anti-histamine, and anti-inflammatory. Research shows that quercetin may help to prevent cancer, especially prostate cancer. Quercetin's antihistamine action may help to relieve allergic symptoms and asthma symptoms. The anti-inflammatory properties may help to reduce pain from disorders such as arthritis. Men who are concerned about prostate problems would also benefit from quercetin. Quercetin may also help reduce symptoms like fatigue, depression and anxiety.

Tartaric Acid
Tartaric acid is an organic compound and is often used in winemaking, promoting graceful aging.  It is a powerful antioxidant and also used to make cream of tartar and baking powder, as a sequestrant, and in effervescent beverages

Cyanidin
Cyanidin has many health promoting properties including anticarcinogenic activity, vasoprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity and anti-diabetes effects. The antioxidant activity is stronger than that of vitamin E, vitamin C and resveratrol. It plays an important role in the treatment of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. Cyanidin reduces free radicals and has also been shown to act as a skin protectant.

Peonidin
Peonidin is a natural compound and its glycosides have been shown to inhibit tumor cell growth.

Delphinidin
Delphinidin beneficial preventive effect on cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Petunidin
Petunidin is an anthocyanin. Anthocyanins are water soluble pigments belonging to the flavonoids compound family involved in nature in a wide range of functions such as flowers, fruits, and seeds pigmentation to attract pollinators, to disperse seeds, to protect against UV light damage, and in plant defense to protect against pathogen attack. Because anthocyanins impart much of the color and flavor of fruits and vegetables, they are usually components of the human diet and are not only considered exclusively as food products but also as therapeutic agents; in fact, anthocyanins have been suggested to protect against oxidative stress, coronary heart diseases, certain cancers, and other age-related diseases. At least part of these presumed health-promoting features can be attributed to the antioxidant properties of these compounds whose chemical structure appears ideal for free radical scavenging.

Pavidin
Commonly known to boost helper cells during an infection response.

Pectin
Pectin is a heterosaccharide derived from the cell wall of plants. Pectins vary in their chain lengths, complexity and the order of each of the monosaccharide units.  A mixture of relatively soluble, complex carbohydrates found in fibre. Pectin forms a kind of cement in plant cell walls. It is particularly abundant in fruits. The concentrated extracts of fruit pectins contain methyl pectate, used as a setting agent for jams and other foods. Pectin delays stomach emptying, helping to prevent blood sugar swings. It may also help to lower blood cholesterol levels.

Vitamin C
Ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient in human diets, and is necessary to maintain connective tissue and bone. The biologically active form of ascorbic acid is vitamin C. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin. Primates (including humans) and a few other species in all divisions of the animal kingdom, notably the guinea pig, have lost the ability to synthesize ascorbic acid and must obtain it in their food. Ascorbic acid is an electron donor for enzymes involved in collagen hydroxylation, biosynthesis of carnitine and norepinephrine, tyrosine metabolism, and amidation of peptide hormones. Ascrobic acid (vitamin C) deficiency causes scurvy. The amount of vitamin C necessary to prevent scurvy may not be adequate to maintain optimal health. The ability of vitamin C to donate electrons also makes it a potent water-soluble antioxidant that readily scavenges free radicals such as molecular oxygen, superoxide, hydroxyl radical, and hypochlorous acid. In this setting, several mechanisms could account for a link between vitamin C and heart disease. One is the relation between LDL oxidation and vitamins C and E. Vitamin C in vitro can recycle vitamin E, which can donate electrons to prevent LDL oxidation in vitro. As the lipid-phase vitamin E is oxidized, it can be regenerated by aqueous vitamin C. Other possibilities are that vitamin C could decrease cholesterol by mechanisms not well characterized, or could improve vasodilatation and vascular reactivity, perhaps by decreasing the interactions of nitric oxide with oxidants.

• Allergy and asthma relief. Vitamin C is present in the lung's airway surfaces, and insufficient vitamin C levels have been associated with bronchial constriction and reduced lung function. Some studies have associated vitamin C supplementation with asthmatic symptom relief, but results have been inconclusive and further studies are needed.
• Cancer prevention. Vitamin C is a known antioxidant and has been associated with reduced risk of stomach, lung, colon, oral, and prostate cancer.
• Cataract prevention. Long-term studies on vitamin C supplementation and cataract development have shown that supplementation significantly reduces the risk of cataracts, particularly among women. One study published in 2002 found that adequate vitamin C intake in women under 60 years of age reduced their risk of developing cataracts by 57%.
• Collagen production. Vitamin C assists the body in the manufacture of collagen, a protein that binds cells together and is the building block of connective tissues throughout the body. Collagen is critical to the formation and ongoing health of the skin, cartilage, ligaments, corneas, and other bodily tissues and structures. Vitamin C is also thought to promote faster healing of wounds and injuries because of its role in collagen production.
• Diabetes control. Vitamin C supplementation may assist diabetics in controlling blood sugar levels and improving metabolism.
• Gallbladder disease prevention. A study of over 13,000 subjects published in the Archives in Internal Medicine found that women who took daily vitamin C supplements were 34% less likely to contract gallbladder disease and gallstones, and that women deficient in ascorbic acid had an increased prevalence of gallbladder disease.
• Immune system booster. Vitamin C increases white blood cell production and is important to immune system balance. Studies have related low vitamin C levels to increased risk for infection. Vitamin C is frequently prescribed for HIV-positive individuals to protect their immune system.
• Neurotransmitter and hormone building. Vitamin C is critical to the conversion of certain substances into neurotransmitters, brain chemicals that facilitate the transmission of nerve impulses across a synapse (the space between neurons, or nerve cells). Such neurotransmitters as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are responsible for the proper functioning of the central nervous system, and a deficiency of neurotransmitters can result in psychiatric illness. Vitamin C also helps the body manufacture adrenal hormones.

Anthocyanidins
Anthocyanins are strong antioxidants in vitro. In most cases, fruits and vegetables with high anthocyanin content were shown to have higher antioxidant capacity than other fruits and vegetables. Whether anthocyanins are effective antioxidants in vivo remains an open question primarily because of the relatively low apparent absorption of anthocyanins compared with other phenolic compounds.

OPCs Oligomeric Procyanidins
Source of a group of powerful antioxidants known as oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), also generically called pycnogenol, a class of flavonoids. Laboratory studies have indicated OPCs are much more effective than vitamin C and vitamin E in neutralizing free oxygen radicals, which contribute to organ degeneration and aging in humans.